The invention relates to a metal panel for drawer walls such as the vertical sides or the back of a drawer.
In certain applications in interior furnishings and furniture construction there has been in recent times an increasing use of drawers whose walls are made of plastic or metal structural shapes. Drawers are used having sides made from hollow metal structural shapes, especially the sides of large drawers of great capacity which are intended for the storage of heavy parts or objects, i.e., which are exposed to heavy loading. For example, structural shapes of light metal alloys are used which in addition to the required load-bearing capacity also have the advantage of light weight and, since they are made by extrusion, they can also be made with cross-sectional configurations which offer the possibility of a concealed arrangement of the hardware for assembling the walls, i.e., for joining the drawer sides to the drawer back and/or drawer fronts, for mounting the drawer bottom, and for concealing the runner of the matching drawer guide. Hollow metal structural shapes extruded from aluminum alloy, however, are comparatively expensive on account of the great cost of investment in the extruding equipment and dies. The invention is therefore addressed to the problem of creating a metal panel for drawer walls which, even if manufactured in comparatively small amounts, can be made at definitely lower cost than the known extruded light-metal stock material, without the need to accept any reduction in load-carrying capacity or any impairment of external appearance of the drawers made with the use of the metal panels.
This problem is solved in accordance with the invention by a single-thickness wall plate stamped and shaped from sheet metal, and by a separately manufactured drawer-bottom holding structural shape of metal fastened to the bottom marginal portion of the wall plate and extending substantially over the entire length of this bottom margin. The wall plate can be stamped very simply out of sheet metal, preferably sheet steel, and can then also be shaped in cross section by rolling or edging so as to achieve sufficient stiffening together with an attractive appearance.
The drawer-holding structural shape can then be an extruded or pressure-cast metal molding which has a coupling portion containing a slot running lengthwise in which the bottom margin of the wall plate is held, a flat, bottom-holding flange projecting at right angles from the coupling portion and an upper flange forming a cove running down from the inside surface of the wall plate to the upper surface of a corresponding drawer bottom. The bottom-holding structural shape thus accommodates the drawer bottom, consisting usually of a wooden board, between its bottom flange and the upper flange, and, due to its concave or cove shape, the upper flange provides a curving transition from the drawer wall down to the upper surface of the drawer bottom, which substantially facilitates the cleaning of the drawer.
The clearance between the lower, drawer-bottom holding flange and the upper flange is best made approximately equal to the thickness of a drawer bottom to be mounted between these flanges.
If a relatively thick drawer bottom is used, in whose edges facing the drawer slides a deep slot can be incorporated, the panel can be configured, in further development of the invention, such that an elongated anchoring rib projects at right angles from the coupling portion about centrally between the drawer-bottom holding flange and the transition flange, and this rib can be hammered or forced into the slot cut in the edge of the drawer bottom held between the flanges.
The anchoring rib then is best provided with serrations to dig into the walls of the slot when it is hammered or forced into it, and thus to assure the secure fastening of the drawer bottom to the walls of the drawer.
If an anchoring rib is not provided it may be desirable to have serrations or spurs projecting from the surface of the bottom flange that will face the drawer bottom when the latter is inserted between the drawer-bottom holding flange and the transitional flange. These spurs or serrations will then dig into the drawer bottom when the metal panel is assembled with the latter, and will thus perform the function of the serrations on the anchoring rib.
A masking flange projecting vertically downward from the bottom margin of the coupling portion can additionally be provided, which will conceal a runner of a corresponding drawer guide mounted under the drawer bottom.
The wall plate and the drawer-bottom mounting section can be joined together very simply by providing the bottom margin of the wall plate that is to be inserted into the longitudinal slot in the structural shape with a number of holes into which material can be driven from the coupling portion, resulting in an interlocking assembly of the wall plate unit and the drawer-bottom mounting section.
To assure that the above-described method of assembling the bottom structural shape to the wall plate will not detract from the appearance of the finished drawer, it is recommended that the material that is to be pressed into the holes in the bottom margin of the wall plate be driven into the respective holes from the surface of the coupling portion that faces the edge of the drawer bottom and is exposed in the area between the bottom flange and the upper flange. In the completed drawer this area is concealed by the drawer bottom so that the deformed portions of the structural shape will not be visible.
Instead of a bottom structural shape made from metal by extrusion or pressure casting, a structural shape made from sheet metal can serve as the metal structural shape in accordance with the invention. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the bottom structural shape is shaped lengthwise from a stirp of sheet metal of sufficient width and of a length correpsonding substantially to the length of the wall plate, such that a drawer-bottom holding flange will project at right angles from the bottom edge of a vertical coupling section which can be affixed to the inside surface of the bottom margin of the wall plate, and an upper flange forming a cove in cross section is provided at a distance above the bottom flange in the upper marginal portion of the coupling section.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, a flange projects at right angles from the upper edge of the coupling portion parallel to the bottom flange, and from its margin remote from the coupling portion the portion forming the cove is bent back upwardly and toward the inside surface of the wall plate. A further development is then advantageous in which a reinforcing flange is bent back from the upper edge of the cove toward and parallel to the coupling section.
In a preferred further development of the invention the reinforcing flange is made so wide tranversely of the length of the structural shape that its free bottom margin is approximately flush with the bottom edge of the coupling portion, and the confronting surfaces of the reinforcing flange and coupling portion lie against one another.
The free distance between the bottom flange and the flange parallel thereto which bears the cove portion can then be made equal to the thickness of a drawer bottom that is to be held between these flanges.
Alternatively, however, the free distance between the bottom flange and the flange parallel thereto which bears the cove portion can also be equal to the distance between the top side of the drawer bottom and a slot made in the edge of the drawer bottom facing the structural shape. In this case the bottom flange will not hold the drawer bottom at its underside but will be pushed or pressed into the slot. It is then again recommendable to provide barb-like projections or tongues on the bottom flange.
To enhance the load-carrying capacity of the bottom flange the latter can be formed from a flange bent at right angles from the coupling portion and a second flange doubled back 180 degrees onto the first.
The coupling portion of the bottom structural shape is attached by resistance welding, e.g., spot welding or rolling seam welding.
To enable the cove portion of the bottom structural shape to merge smoothly with the inside surface of the wall plate, provision is made in a further development according to the invention such that the wall plate is jogged on the width of the area in contact with the structural shape by the amount of the thickness of the coupling portion and, if desired, of the reinforcing flange of the structural shape, parallel to the area of the wall plate situated above it, in a direction away from the drawer bottom.